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en-usTechdirt. Stories filed under "3g"https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/td-88x31.gifhttps://www.techdirt.com/Wed, 3 Sep 2014 04:13:49 PDTLaw Enforcement Agencies Scramble For Pricey Cell Tower Spoofer Upgrades As Older Networks Are Shut DownTim Cushinghttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140901/22274428390/law-enforcement-agencies-scramble-pricey-cell-tower-spoofer-upgrades-as-older-networks-are-shut-down.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140901/22274428390/law-enforcement-agencies-scramble-pricey-cell-tower-spoofer-upgrades-as-older-networks-are-shut-down.shtmlthanks, FBI!) is on its last legs… or at least one version is. Cyrus Farivar at Ars Technica reports that law enforcement agencies are moving quickly to avoid being locked out of the cell tower spoofing racket.

Documents released last week by the City of Oakland reveal that it is one of a handful of American jurisdictions attempting to upgrade an existing cellular surveillance system, commonly known as a stingray.

The Oakland Police Department, the nearby Fremont Police Department, and the Alameda County District Attorney jointly applied for a grant from the Department of Homeland Security to "obtain a state-of-the-art cell phone tracking system," the records show.

The Stingray is Harris Corporation's most infamous product. But the original version has its limitations. While the nation's cell phone carriers have largely moved on to 3G/4G networks, Stingray devices without optional upgrades haven't. All they can access is 2G, the default connection when nothing better is available. Those looking to capture cell activity on 3G and 4G networks will need to purchase Harris' "Hailstorm" upgrade… which also means they'll need to start generating paperwork and asking federal and local governments for funds. The problem with these actions is that they have the tendency to expose those in need of new capabilities.

FOIA requests have turned up some information, but much of it is redacted and many more requests have been refused or ignored. With the federal government itself instructing local law enforcement to cover up its acquisition and use of tower spoofers, the FOIA process becomes even more of an uphill battle.

Law enforcement can't be happy to see 2G networks being switched off. When you're in the untargeted dragnet business, 2G is a willing supplier of "business records."

2G networks are notoriously insecure. Handsets operating on 2G will readily accept communication from another device purporting to be a valid cell tower, like a stingray. So the stingray takes advantage of this feature by jamming the 3G and 4G signals, forcing the phone to use a 2G signal.

What's considered a criminal act when performed by a civilian is just SOP for law enforcement. The same can be said for the fake sworn documents (warrant requests, subpoenas) obtained to cover the use of these devices. The manufacturer with the most devices in use is no better than the agencies it sells to. When approached about this scramble for upgrades, Harris Corporation borrowed the NSA's Glomar.

"We do not comment on solutions we may or may not provide to classified Department of Defense or law enforcement agencies," Jim Burke, a spokesman for Harris, told Ars.

The timeline for 2G shutoff is still vague. Verizon says "by the end of the decade." AT&T says 2017. So there's still some time for law enforcement agencies to avoid being bypassed by the slow rollout of network upgrades. But between now and then, these agencies need to put together nearly $500,000 just to stay current. And as usual, as much as possible about the process will be obscured, because otherwise the terrorists criminals win.

"Once that's disclosed then the targets of the technology will know how to avoid it," [Alameda County Assistant DA Michael] O’Connor, the assistant district attorney, told Ars. "Once the bad guys understand how to beat it then they will."

It seems like all the bad guys would need to know is that the technology exists and is being used and just stay off their cell phones. But in this day and age, being completely unconnected while away from home is untenable, if not nearly impossible. Communication is key in criminal enterprises, and the steady disappearance of pay phones doesn't leave them with many options. O'Connor completely overstates the "exposure" danger and follows it up with this:

"It can't easily be resolved—the public's right to know, the Fourth Amendment rights of people who might be subject to this kind of analysis and the needs of law enforcement to keep sources confidential especially in a day and age when the bad guys have acquired considerable technology that is turned against good guys."

One: if it can't "easily be resolved," why not err on the Fourth Amendment/public knowledge side, rather than on the cop side? Two: the bad guys' "considerable technology" isn't lapping law enforcement's. This ridiculous claim has been used as justification for warrantless cell phone searches, and it failed to move the Supreme Court justices. Pushing this narrative now just makes the pusher look like the sort of credulous rube who would put together a Powerpoint presentation on food-trucks-as-terrorist-vehicles.

The bright side here is that more paperwork is being generated… which eventually means more of the public will know their local law enforcement is scooping up their location/connection info (most likely without a warrant) at any given time and is not above killing their network to do it.

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]]>losing-the-tech-arms-race-to-slow-moving-service-providershttps://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20140901/22274428390Tue, 2 Sep 2014 07:57:20 PDTIranian Grand Ayatollah Issues Fatwa Against 'Immoral' High-Speed Internet ConnectionsTim Cushinghttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140901/08522128387/iranian-grand-ayatollah-issues-fatwa-against-immoral-high-speed-internet-connections.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140901/08522128387/iranian-grand-ayatollah-issues-fatwa-against-immoral-high-speed-internet-connections.shtml
Iran continues to battle the Internet, recognizing the fact that an unfiltered exchange of ideas (some of them admittedly often horrifically bad) tends to undermine repressive regimes. While the President and the Minister of Communications have stressed that higher-speed connections (and less censorship) are useful to Iran's citizens, many others in the government feel that increasing speeds means giving up lots and lots of control. (via @visions_studios)

[C]onservative, religious, and security organizations and officials fear the loss of control that a faster Internet will bring, and as such resist the administration’s efforts to provide the faster services.

These government officials would prefer the President push everyone onto Iran's version of the Internet: the National Information Network. Whenever it's finally fully implemented, it will function like a countrywide Intranet, giving government control over access as well as opening users up to significant amounts of surveillance.

Since President Rouhani seems reluctant to throttle the nation's internet users, others have pressed forward on the issue. Cue the Grand Ayatollah of Iran, who has arbitrarily determined that high-speed connections are an affront to [this particular] God.

A Grand Ayatollah in Iran has determined that access to high-speed and 3G Internet is “against Sharia” and “against moral standards.” In answer to a question published on his website, Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, one of the country’s highest clerical authorities, issued a fatwa, stating “All third generation [3G] and high-speed internet services, prior to realization of the required conditions for the National Information Network [Iran’s government-controlled and censored Internet which is under development], is against Sharia [and] against moral and human standards.”

Left undiscussed is how incremental increases in speed are incremental increases in sin or how exactly an Iran-only internet would redeem "immoral" high-speed connections. These sorts of questions are better left unasked, especially in a nation filled with religious leaders that can impose and carry out death penalties with impunity.

The bottom line is that a clunky internet is a mostly-useless internet, even for non-subversive reasons like seeking jobs or performing research. Shirazi's declaration is mostly noise-making, but it does serve a purpose -- to give the conservatives pushing for the Iranternet more ammo to use against political opponents. Nothing brings the froth to the surface faster than blending politics and religion, especially when the subject matter is the world wide web.

The former Minister of Communications had this to say in support of strangling the web.

"If the Ministry of Communications does not pay attention to the sensitivities of the people and the ulama [high-ranking clerics], [the Ministry] will have no choice but to prepare itself for significant developments at the Parliament and in society."

Note that the "sensitivities of the people" are somehow exactly the same as the "sensitivities of high-ranking clerics," even when the people are actively seeking better connection speed.

Mahmoud Khosravi, Chairman of the Board and Managing Director of the Ertebatat-e Zirsakht (Communications Infrastructure) Company, stated recently that three million new requests for high-speed Internet services had been filed.

Iran's citizens want one thing. Parts of the government want another. And religious leaders just want control of both the people and the government. In between lies the internet. "Knowledge is power" as they say, and the internet contains a wealth of it. And Iran's power structure -- the part of it that relies on stupidity like "2G good, 3G bad" fatwas -- would like this threat neutralized, and it's willing to further harm the future of the nation to do it.

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]]>Age of Enlightenment still several hundred years away, apparentlyhttps://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20140901/08522128387Tue, 12 Feb 2013 03:34:54 PSTChina Tries To Bolster Claim To Disputed Pacific Islands By Upgrading Mobile Coverage ThereGlyn Moodyhttps://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20130108/07354721604/china-tries-to-bolster-claim-to-disputed-pacific-islands-upgrading-mobile-coverage-there.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20130108/07354721604/china-tries-to-bolster-claim-to-disputed-pacific-islands-upgrading-mobile-coverage-there.shtmlThe Spratly Islands are some 750 reefs, atolls and islands in the South China Sea that are claimed variously by Brunei, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. That's largely because of the rich fishing grounds that surround them, and the possibility of significant oil and gas reserves nearby.

In the ongoing dispute over the Spratly Islands claimed by China and Vietnam, the latest development is that China is opening up 3G services on the islands, not only to Chinese soldiers but also for the country's fishermen.

As the Tech In Asia article quoted above explains:

Chinese soldiers and fishermen will now be able to text message, call, and chat online with family back home over the new 3G network. This upgrade to 3G from regular cellular coverage (started in 2011) and the recent 3G network in the disputed Paracel Islands in July 2012 signals a more permanent Chinese presence on the rocky outposts.

What's interesting here is how this tighter integration with the domestic network is used symbolically to underline that the various islands are -- in China's view -- part of its territory. It can be thought of as the 21st-century equivalent of building roads in the Roman Empire, or laying down railway tracks in the American West.

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]]>new-railwayshttps://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20130108/07354721604Tue, 25 May 2010 20:54:09 PDTT-Mobile Claiming '4G Speeds' To Pretend It's Offering 4GMike Masnickhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100525/1203219567.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100525/1203219567.shtmlany speed below that is covered, even if you'll never get a speed anywhere near the defined "x."

The other popular tactic is to lie about what kind of wireless network you're actually offering. There were the claims that any wireless broadband solution was "WiMAX" back before the WiMAX standard was even set. So you started to get companies calling their solution "WiMAX" and then including all sorts of fine print about how it was "pre-WiMAX" and would certainly be upgraded to WiMAX once WiMAX actually existed.

Similarly, nearly a decade ago, when all the talk was about the upcoming "3G" networks, the mobile carriers all started pushing claims that they were offering "3G" when they absolutely were not. There were some interim "2.5G" steps, and some aggressive marketers just decided to round up. And, it looks like they're doing that again. T-Mobile is going around claiming its HSPA+ network offers "4G speeds," which, of course, is not to be confused with actual 4G. And, of course, this is an "up to" situation, where the network could, theoretically, sorta, kinda touch on "4G speeds," but probably won't for most people.

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]]>nice-tryhttps://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100525/1203219567Wed, 2 Dec 2009 16:40:32 PSTThere's An Apology For That: AT&T Dismisses Its Pointless Lawsuit Against Verizon Over AdsMike Masnickhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091202/1251237166.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091202/1251237166.shtmlsuing over the ads. Things were made worse when a judge refused to block the ads from airing. Perhaps finally realizing that all this was doing was creating free advertising for Verizon -- and more attention on the quality of AT&T's network -- the company has decided to drop the lawsuit. Apparently, instead, it's going to focus on its own misleading ad campaign.

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]]>nice-workhttps://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20091202/1251237166Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:35:45 PSTJudge Says 'There's An Ad For That...' And It's Ok For NowMike Masnickhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091118/1843106999.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091118/1843106999.shtmlsued Verizon over its "There's A Map For That" ad, that mocked AT&T's 3G network coverage, while playing on the Apple iPhone slogan of "there's an app for that." It seemed like an odd thing for AT&T to do, as it really just called more attention to the ad and the differences in 3G networks. Now, to make matters even worse, a judge has refused to issue an injunction stopping the ad. That doesn't stop the lawsuit, though, and the ad might still get taken down if AT&T wins, but it's unlikely Verizon's ad campaign is going to last until the lawsuit is finally decided, anyway. So for now, all it's done is driven a lot more attention to the ad, in which Verizon comes out favorably.

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]]>let-it-playhttps://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20091118/1843106999Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:37:42 PSTChina Finally Issues 3G LicensesCarlo Longinohttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090112/0807573372.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090112/0807573372.shtmlto operate 3G networks, following years of delays. The country had been talking about getting 3G going since 2003 or so, but its tech protectionist bent saw it forced to take delay after delay until it could finally get its homegrown TD-SCDMA standard into acceptable working condition, while 3G networks built on existing, widely accepted industry standards flowered elsewhere in the world. It's great that China's offered up an alternative to the WCDMA and CDMA2000 standards, and one that might not carry some of the same intellectual property burdens as those two, translating into lower costs. But by this point, any such benefit the standard might offer has been rendered fairly meaningless by the long delay in getting it to market -- meaning China's protectionism will probably have done more to hurt the country's position in technology than to help it.

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]]>not-sure-we-really-believe-this,-but-oh-well...https://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20090112/0807573372Thu, 1 May 2008 18:33:00 PDTDear T-Mobile, The Point Of 3G Is For Data SpeedsMike Masnickhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080501/022313997.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080501/022313997.shtmlit's only for voice -- not for data. If it's only for voice... there's no reason to move to 3G. The very purpose of the 3G mobile network was to enable higher bandwidth for data. This is like building an entire highway next to a perfectly good bike trail... and then saying the highway is only for bicycles. Why bother? Update: Well, phew. Turns out the original story was simply not true. T-Mobile launched with voice and data...

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]]>you-can't-be-serioushttps://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20080501/022313997Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:29:05 PDTWhy Offer 3G Service At All If You Limit Speeds To Less Than 2.5G?Mike Masnickhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080410/012335810.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080410/012335810.shtml"nuts" if they wanted to be able to access the full internet from their mobile phones (rather than the extremely limited selection of content chosen and gated by 3 UK). Eventually 3 realized that it was wrong and its customers weren't nuts, but it would appear that 3's competitor O2 is equally anti-customer. Apparently, the company has recently put a cap on its downstream 3G speeds at 128k. This is for their 3G service -- you know, the one that mobile operators had promised would bring "broadband" speeds wirelessly. Even worse, it appears that this 128k is even slower than its 2.5G EDGE network. As for how the company feels about its customers -- it may not have called them "nuts" but it came close. PR folks from the company accidentally called a reporter while talking about how to "position" this story, claiming that it was only "techie nerds" who cared about this sort of thing. I imagine that O2 may discover that it has a lot more "techie nerds" as customers than it thought -- and they'll look for opportunities to support other providers.

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]]>please-'splain-it-to-us-tech-nerdshttps://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20080410/012335810Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:48:50 PDTAT&T Realizes That Upload Speeds Are A Selling PointMike Masnickhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070924/205539.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070924/205539.shtml"up to" under ideal conditions). However, for a while, we've been wondering when more broadband providers would realize that the internet isn't just about downloadable "broadcast" contest, but in multi-directional communication. That is, when would they realize that people value the upstream part of their broadband connections? There had been some talk about this a few years ago, but most marketing is still focused on just the downstream speeds. That's why it's interesting to see AT&T now hyping up the fact that it's boosting the upload speeds on its 3G wireless network. AT&T (from back when it was Cingular) has fallen way behind both Verizon and Sprint in terms of offering 3G data services around the US. It launched much later and has had trouble ramping up the network as fast as its competitors. However, by upgrading the upload speeds, it looks like AT&T is searching for some differentiator it can use to compete. While it may just be partly a marketing gimmick, at least the company does seem to intrinsically realize that in an age of VoIP, user generated content, virtual worlds and video games -- upload speeds really do matter to many people. While it may not be a huge enticement, it's worth watching to see if others start boosting (and hyping) their upload speeds as well as their download speeds.